Hi everyone… Welcome to the event you’ve all been waiting for…. The Cover Reveal for Steel Praetorian!

Let me know what you all think! I’m extremely excited to share this with you!

If this cover art gets your blood pumping, and you want to know the backstory, read my first three novels. Remember, Iron Tribune is on sale all November long! Get it now while it’s only $3.99! All my books are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or through Apple via Smashwords, and remember to like me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter for more frequent updates throughout NaNoWriMo2016!

Steel Praetorian has a cover (or at least, a first draft) and an entirely formatted book! Which means it should be done soon! OH MY GOSH I’M SO EXCITED! Estimated Book release date is the 1st of December, which gives me time to do some more blog posts, put it on sale for pre-order, get some proof copies in, and send out review copies.

If you’re a blogger that’s interested in getting a pre-release copy of Steel Praetorian for review, let me know!

Today I want to talk about everyone’s favorite point in a novel – the plot twist. Whether you’re a reader, a writer, an author, a movie-goer or a television watcher, you’re familiar with the plot twist. Everything is going perfectly fine (or at least, in the same, expected direction) and then suddenly, a key component of the story is spun on it’s head. This forces the reader/viewer to adapt or even change their opinions about a character, event, or challenge.

For today’s post, I’m going to actually ask a question of my readers. What would be something you’d like to read an article about? As I’ve discussed before, my two most popular articles are those written about how to kill characters in novels. Gruesome (and highly entertaining) to write about – especially since I don’t take myself seriously in this regard. But what would be some articles you’d like to see? I can’t profess to being an expert at the craft of writing, but I do have experience and some thoughts/opinions about certain things.

Today is really exciting, as I’ve hit the 20,000 word mark. This is a really big deal for me, as it means that almost 1/4 of Laurel Emperor’s first draft is finished! Also, I haven’t been the most focused today, so I also managed to write 500 words on another short story/fan fic idea I’ve been playing around with, which brings my total number of words written today to nearly 3,000! With all my major characters having gotten at least one chapter, I’m about to start working in several new characters that were introduced in the last book, and will begin to play a bigger role in some of the events in Rome.

In news – I’ve started assembling at least a few blog visits to help promote Steel Praetorian, but I’m still looking for more. If you’ve got a blog, I’ve got five dates open for the next three weeks. I’m willing to trade 1 for 1 or do a feature just for you! Please let me know if you want to join up on my November Novel Showcase!

11/13-11/20 – 1 slots open

11/21-11/26 – 2 slots open

11/27-12/3 – 2 slots open

In Steel Praetorian News – Dedication submitted.

Laurel Emperor Progress: 15,389 (Definitely didn’t do much these last days – school week + US election has been rough on my mental processes. Read the snippet beyond the break.

Happy Election Day to my Fellow Americans – If you haven’t voted, go now! Polls are still open for at least another hour in most eastern states and several hours in the midwest and western states – every vote counts!

Now that’s done, we can return to our regularly scheduled blog post! Big time progress today thanks to a train trip, and I can announce we’ve hit the 14,000 word mark! Hurray! Also, I’ve gotten the final drafts back for one of the two illustrations, and the second draft back for the second of the two illustrations. Much excitement for me I assure you!

Anywho, goal for tonight is 15,500, which places us 500 ahead of Day 9’s NaNoWriMo2016’s goal, and thus gives me a comfortable bubble to work with as needed.

An excellent description of how my word count feels today. Crashing and burning.

Finally got some good solid time to sit here and type, but I’m incredibly distracted today. I’m about 2k behind schedule, and it’s really hard to find the motivation to continue right now. Fortunately, I’ve managed to finish Corbus’ chapter, which means I can start on a new one, which always helps!

So some exciting news today! I got the first glimpses of the two illustrations that will be included in Steel Praetorian, and boy do they look exciting. Very action packed and fitting in with the aesthetic of the earlier novels. I’ve included an illustration below so you can see the style of the artwork. Illustrations aren’t generally common for a novel, but I think they add some style and substance that give readers a glance into the author’s mind. Not to eliminate the imagination of the reader, but to guide their thoughts. Anywho, onto today’s numbers after the break.